Back to School Projects....

I love this little notebook. I saw it in my head and thank goodness I have access to the papers from 13 different paper mills with my The Paper Mill Store Design Team. So, it was very easy to find exactly what I was looking for in terms of paper. In this project I used papers from both TPMS and WorldWin Papers and then used my Bind-It-All to bind it together. I STINKIN' LOVE, LOVE, LOVE MY Bind It All!!!
(go to Scrapbooks-n-Stickers if you want a great deal on the BIA! ----
tell Kim in the notes that Roxie sent ya!)

Anyway, I made this before my 2nd trip to North Carolina for my deadline.
I finished it, but wasn't about to photograph it in the sunlight before leaving because it was dark when I finished it and it was still dark when we left for the airport.

No biggie, I think.....I'll just do it in North Carolina. Well, wouldn't you know it....the thing of hairspray that I packed for Marinne's flower girl hairdo BLEW UP in my suitcase....saturating the tip of the pencil and various items in my suitcase.

OH MAN....DID THAT SUCK!!!!!!!

Thank goodness, the wedding clothes were encased in plastic!!!!!!!

So, thanks to Big Daddy and his photoshopping skills, he was able to produce a photo that is indicative of the project before it was ruined with hairspray, but in reality....
...well, it's not good. BOO! (but, Yay to BD for coming to the rescue!)


And here's a coordinating collection I did........pretty much a little bit of everything!


The layout matches the color pallet, but I actually used a photos from Logan's last day of school last year. (because that's what needed to be scrapped!!) But, the layout can easily be used for the first day of school, just by changing the title!

I used the Maya Road Sheers for the first time....What a NICE product!!!
The next project was an altered lunch sack gift bag.
What better to give a gift to your teacher in?!?


And why not bring an apple for the teacher, with a super cute tag attached
and some school supplies with pizazz?! An altered composition notebook
and an altered eraser both personalized with her name!!


The next project is a post-it-note holder. Isn't it cute?!?! I've been making these for about 8 years or so. I used to make them out of a real "chipboard" I bought at Hobby Lobby years ago, which was like a very thin wood.
I hand cut them with an exacto knife and put them together.

I used to make them for teachers gifts when Logan started Pre-K like 8 years ago.
But, I often did it at the end of the year, when I knew the teacher better and
made them using color schemes that matched the teacher's preferences.

It's a great thing to carry a notepad in your purse!

(Step-by-Steps for this project are available on TPMS DT - Paper Crazy Blog.)


And last but not least, is the super-cute pencil holder for the teachers desk.

I just had to stickle one boy and one girl....it just had to be done! :p


As a former teacher, many people do not realize exactly how many school supplies teachers buy for their own classrooms. ( I sure did when I was teaching full-time before I had kids! And I suspect that teachers are doing it more and more these days!) School budget cuts and the slow economy just make it worse these days.

So, I thought this was a great gift!! A pencil holder and dozens of pencils!

Add a little tag that says, "Help Yourself!" and it'll make any teacher happy!

Yes, School Started on August 13th......

...and yes, I am just getting around to getting these up on my blog.


But, before you start busting my chops as a bad mommy....just remember that between Aug. 14th and Aug. 25th, I made TWO TRIPS to Charlotte, NC and back. The first was for CKC-Charlotte, I came home for 3 days and the went right back to Charlotte for all my children to be in my nieces wedding. (so if you add that up....I was gone away from home
9 out of those 11 days!)

CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY FOR SURE!!!!!!

(further clarifying my insane post about the cookies!)

Anyway.....onto the back to school story and pics. I'll apologize in advance for my over-indulgent "mommy post" for Back to School. But, darn it, if I have to have a baby going to Kindy and a kid going to Middle School on the same day....you'll just have to understand and be patient with me.

(or possibly make me a sympathy card.....let me know if you need the address!)

Ha ha!



So, here is the middle schooler. He picked out a new outfit to try out his locker and look around. I didn't have the heart to make him change, so I didn't. (he'll just have one less "new" outfit clean for the beginning of school.)

The way it works in our middle school is the kids are divided into teams of 125 +/- kids. And there are 4 teams. Everything Logan does is with his "team." They have the same teachers, the same classes and the same lunch period. In my opinion, this is great. It'll be like he's going to a smaller school within his school.

And, as you can see, Logan is on the Comet team!
(and he's also getting annoyed with his mom wanting to take photo's)Anybody want to bet he lets me take NONE next year?!?!?



I snuck this one while he was working his locker combination for the 27th time.
(just kidding.....it was more like the 8th........)
So, we let him practice a bunch.
Met his EO teacher.
Toured the entire school.
Found his classes.
Practiced the locker a few more times and went on.


Of course, two days school starts they have "School Supply Night," where you bring in your supplies and also meet your teacher. Before we went, I had to take a pic or two, of course.


Jensen in the tree.... (where else would HE be?!) Sitting at his desk... Meeting his teacher. Then, we were off to Kindergarten.


The CUTE Kindergartener. Who was seriously impressed by his "cubby."

And excited to meet his teacher.
(does anyone else question if she's even of legal drinking age?!?!)

Showing off his favorite spot in the room.....the manipulatives area. And his spot on the carpet for group time. And we couldn't start Kindy without a picture with the principal.
She's great and the cutest little thing ever!


ON TO THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!


Up at 6:25am, to be at the bus stop by 7am.
Totally sucked.
For him.
For me.

Logan was not wanting to do the picture thing....
....and I swear, no other kids were around to see! And off he went..... I was happy for him....and it was harder for me than I thought it would be.
(I took this shot from the porch, so nobody would see me.)


So, I came in and had a 30 minute break before I have to get everyone up for
"go to school - round 2." It's nice to have the absolute quiet alone.
I haven't really had anything like that before.

Then, at 7:30am, I get up the two younger boys.
Their bus comes at 8:14am, and they are to be at the bus stop at 8:00am.

Grabbed these shots before going to the bus stop.

Jensen - Fourth Grade

Griffin - Kindergarten And onto the bus.(It absolutely broke my heart, but Griffin insisted on riding the bus to school. His older brothers do it and by golly, he was bound and determined he was going to do it!
Ripped my heart out. Of course, I followed that bus to the school!!!!!!!!)

Once at school....Griffin put his bag in his cubby.
Then, we did a quick pic w/ his teacher. (still not convinced she's legal)
And then there was work to do on the table. (reading books!)

I snapped this from the hallway outside his room....then, I cried. After that, I snuck down to 4th Grade on my way out of the building...and snuck a
picture from the hallway of Jensen sitting at his desk.
(well, as sneaky as you can be w/ a D-SLR w/ a flash!!! Ha ha!)

And after a long quiet day with the princess.....I was overjoyed to see smiles
when they came running towards me at the end of the day!!

Griffin wasn't swallowed by the giant backpack he was "required" to have!
And I had a great photo of Jensen, but I just realized it had his full name and school on it...so I have removed it. And I'm just too tired to go edit it now....sorry!

Clearly I am insane.....

...because I was up at 6am and off to the store to buy supplies to make dozens of chocolate chip cookies for Jensen for school.

They are having a bake sale to raise money for the folks in Chapman, KS that were devastated by a tornado back in mid-June this year.

I knew the bake sale was on Friday (yes, I know it's Thursday) but what Jensen failed to tell me until 9:45pm last night was that he need the cookies on THURSDAY!!!
(so they could mark prices on all the cookies)

Since I was exhausted, I was not going to the store at 10pm.
Just was not. gonna. happen.

So, what do I do instead?

I drag my happy a$ out of bed at 6am to go to Dillons and purchase cookie making supplies! AcK!!

(and somehow I thought this was the better option?)

See....like I said, CLEARLY INSANE!!

It's nice to be APPRECIATED!!!!!

One really awesome thing about working for WorldWin Papers is this....being appreciated.

I knew last month that in addition to the payment I had received for my work, I had won a design team incentive for my Haunted House album. Remember this little beauty?!

Pretty awesome to win something, huh!?!

And when I got my $50 American Express Gift Cheque, the envelope contained something even better...
...a very sweet, handwritten note from Chris L., one of the managers of the company. Now THAT really means something.......

So...I cut all my hair off.....

I'm liking it pretty well. It's definitely a lot cooler!! (although, it took me a few days and several tries to figure out the correct formula of fixing and hair product
to get it to NOT go flat like it did in this picture, but you get the idea.)

It's also a bit shorter on the front sides than I intended, but it will grow!

This is my attempt of doing a self photo of the back of the haircut.

See...it is really pretty short. Cut off like 7 or 8 inches!!

What a *FANTASTIC* trip!!

Another city, another CKC Convention...

Welcome to Valley Forge, PA!

I've never been to Philly before and if you can believe it, I never even made it to get a "real Philly Cheese Steak!"
And I didn't get to see the Liberty Bell, either.

I was actually pretty disappointed, but some trips are just like that. This one we were real busy and I taught a lot of classes, (6 classes for a total of 7 teaching hours) so we didn't even go out for a relaxing dinner until Saturday. And we went to this Irish pub and the food was so good! Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Anyway...on to the good stuff!

The booth...we had lots of great product.
KaiserCraft...if you've not heard of them, check them out here. They really caused a splash at CHA-Summer!

Prima....flowery goodness. An addiction for sure!

Fancy Pants...YUM!! I just love the About A Boy line.
With a bunch of boys to scrap for, I am always looking for boy lines that I love. And this one fits the bill!
And of course, Bind It All! My single most favorite scrapbooking tool this year! What fun! And the Round-It-All is a close 2nd Place! And have you had a chance to check out the DreamKuts? If not, and you love to make cards....
this tool is fantastic!!!!! See all the Yummy Bind-It-All bags hanging on the back wall! Love 'em!!! This is Alex Ann. She was my roommate this trip and she's so funny! She's has 3 kids and she's like a super mom!


The best thing about a job you travel for, besides going to all the neat places I get to go, it getting to meet people. If you've met me in person or know me, you quickly figure out that I am a social butterfly. I am most happy when surrounded by people and if those people happen to be scrapbookers, than I am overjoyed because we all share a common bond. And this trip was a treasure trove for making and actually "meeting" new friends!

First, there are all the wonderful women in my classes! What a bunch of sweeties!!!! Smart and talented women, who could possibly teach me a thing or two about scrapbooking!

(and I met one new friend, who we both swear that we know each other, but couldn't find the connection....talk about driving you crazy! But, she and her friends were so sweet!)

Then, I had a red-headed beauty who was quick to chat and smile ever time I ran into her after class! I love people like her! (I just wish I was better with names.....it's just so hard when you meet hundreds of people in 3 days!!!)This is a pic of me and my friend Kelli! I met her thru the online scrapbooking site... ScrapbookerOnline.com. Those women on there are such a blast and so talented, too!

This is a pic of me and my new friend Julie. What a doll she is! She even offered to cook me dinner on Saturday night because she was grossed out by the dinner (if you can even call it that) that Alex Ann and I ate during the crop on Friday night. Isn't that so sweet!?

Julie is the mother to one little cutie-pie little boy and based on how sweet she was to us....I can tell she's a rockin' awesome momma! (and she's smart to boot -- a college professor!!) Like I said, I'm lucky to get to meet people like this! She sat with Alex Ann and I and kept us company while we worked at the crop. Then, she helped us with boxing stuff up and even offered to carry stuff. How sweet is she?!


I also met a new friend from Technique Tuesday...Sylvia! She was teaching the TT classes before and after my classes on Friday and Saturday (we were sharing the room!)

I wish I could have taken her class...I heard lots of good reviews! And who doesn't love Technique Tuesday?!

(and then I learned my friend Ana from TT has moved to my home state of Kansas...about an hour away! We are trying to make plans to crop together very soon! YAY!!)


One of the best things about this trip was my plan to meet up with Kim Frantz, who is a talented designer on the WorldWin Papers and The Paper Mill Store Design Teams with me.Since our team is spread all over the US and Canada...these opportunities to meet don't always present themselves. So, I was very excited to be able to hook up with Kim!

And we had a lot of fun taking this silly photo! (note to my boss, Kim H.....did you know the GGM works on leather purses and the RIA can stand in for a haircut?!)
I know...we are dorks! But, we were having FUN!!!

(and if you click on the FUN picture, you can watch a silly movie that Kim made of our short time together.....ignore me flitting around like a "Breck Girl"....nervous habit. Plus, I was checking on the booth to see if Alex Ann needed help.)


So, as much as I was looking forward to this trip already....I was OVERJOYED when out of the blue, one of my favorite scrapper idols sent me an email (yes, little ole' me) and asked if we could meet, since she was coming to the convention just for fun!!! And that was and easy answer for me....YES!

So, while I was talking to Kim...along came Emilie Ahern. (and Linda Barber was with her!) Turns out Emilie had been calling my cell phone trying to find me, but I couldn't get a signal in the convention center, so I didn't know. Bummer!
And she was looking for me!!! YAY! So, I intoduced Emilie to Kim and Emilie introduce Kim and I to Linda. (Linda works for Simple Scrapbooks and also is on the American Crafts Design Team. She's super talented, too!)

We all visited for about 10 minutes and took some quick photos. I love this one of Emilie and I.

Isn't she so cute?!?!
And she INSPIRES ME so much!
(and has two of the cutest red-head girls you've ever seen!)

And she has the same taste as me, too. She was wearing a shirt that I own, too. (It's one of my favorites...in fact, I had worn it 2 nights before while teaching my first class!)

Emilie....YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!!!!!!


Now, for the HUGE celebrity sighting story....

...so, on Thursday morning on the way to set up I passed a women on the way to the gym. She had her hair pulled back and at first it didn't compute. I smiled and said hi...like I would to anyone....and as we were equal to each other, I saw her eyes and I realized it was Stacy Julian.

Well, you know me and my mouth, and I exclaimed, "Shut Up! You're Stacy Julian!" (and I probably would have given her a playful shove when I said Shut Up...if we had been face-to-face, rather than passing each other!)

Stacy laughed.

I loved that I met her. Being real. On the way to work out.
Not in the "mode." I know "the mode." You have to get yourself there to successfully do this job.

It's hard being "on" all the time. When sometimes all you want to do is collapse. Or be alone. Don't get me wrong. I do love it. LOVE MY JOB. But, sometimes it is hard.

And I found Stacy to be very "real." Friendly. Accommodating to my Sophmoric crush on her. And she was kind.

I introduced myself. We discussed a mutual friend. (Hi Lain!)
I met her mother. (who Stacy looks like) No autograph. No photo. Just her time. And I was overjoyed!

Just that quick moment in the hallway, made me so happy! Great way to start the convention.

So, although I knew she was around...I didn't see her for a few days. She was teaching classes. I was teaching classes.

But, on Saturday morning, I was counting my class kits at a table and Stacy was at the next table over signing autographs and taking photos. So, I moved over next to her when there was a lull in the line and I was happy to learn she remembered me. (seriously, when you meet as many people as she does...I didn't think she would. But, she did.) And you know what...I found her to be funny, kind and genuine. Very Real. And that's good in my book!

I thought about getting her autograph. But, I don't have her book with me. Or a copy of Simple Scrapbooking.
So, I choose to skip that.

But, I did ask for a photo. And she was gracious and this photo makes me super happy! And reminds me of a woman who inspires me.